Theocrazy

From Dana Milbank at POST OPINIONS at The Washington Post:

Yes, [Rick] Perry is passionately anti-government, or at least anti-this-government. But the man who suddenly tops the Republican presidential polls is no libertarian. Rick Perry is a theocrat.

And he’s not the only one.  I’m lookin’ at you Botox Batshit Michele Bachmann and Princess Sarah Palin!

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I’ll take ‘Rigging Elections’ for a few million, ALEC

From Sandra Khalifa at CAMPUS PROGRESS:

If there has been any doubt regarding the intent behind this year’s upsurge in voter ID legislation, Governor Scott Walker’s latest move leaves little room to question the conservative disenfranchisement agenda, at least in the state of Wisconsin. In what seems like a blatant attempt to lessen the accessibility of photo identification, Governor Walker’s administration has announced the closure of sixteen DMV centers throughout the state – for “economic” purposes.

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Kochroaches

From The Miami Herald:

Gov. Rick Scott acknowledged Tuesday what his staff had refused to disclose: He flew to Colorado over the weekend to attend a secretive policy retreat hosted by powerful conservative donors Charles and David Koch.

“It was very interesting,” Scott said. “They wanted basically to know what am I doing in Florida.”

Scott said he gave an overview of his agenda since taking office in January: education and Medicaid reform [translation:  screwing the poor and middle class], tax breaks for businesses [translation:  screwing the poor and middle class], drug-testing welfare recipients [translation:  screwing the poor and making money for Solantic, his urgent care centers that do drug-testing] and overhauling the public employee pension system [translation:  screwing the poor and middle class].

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Rethugs are just puppets of Americans for Tax Reform

From POLITICAL HOTSHEET at CBS NEWS:

Vice President Joe Biden’s deficit reduction talks imploded today after the only two Republicans involved in the negotiations announced they are halting their participation because of their objections to Democratic demands for “tax increases.”

Democrats meanwhile, suggested Republicans are “playing with fire” by holding up a vote on raising the debt ceiling.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced this morning that he would skip today’s scheduled meeting because “Democrats continue to insist that any deal must include tax increases.”

Subsequently, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona announced he was pulling out of the negotiations.

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It’s My Uterus!

Change of plans, kids.  I had a post all ready to to, but at the last moment, I changed my mind.  We haven’t had a new song in a long time, and the nonsense in Tallahassee inspired me.  In fact, it’s gotten even better!  From The Miami Herald:

Florida’s Republican House speaker and a Democratic lawmaker exchanged insults Wednesday in a growing flap over the use of the word “uterus” in floor debate.

Speaker Dean Cannon said the controversy was “silly” and denied he had banned members from uttering the word.

The Winter Park Republican said he, instead, had interrupted Rep. Scott Randolph because he’d veered off policy matters when the Orlando Democrat suggested his wife would need to “incorporate her uterus” to protect herself from Republican anti-abortion proposals because of the GOP’s stance against regulating businesses.

…snip…

Randolph shot back in a news release calling Cannon the “most effective legislator when it comes to waging war on middle class Floridians.”

Scott has appeared on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” to discuss the matter and Democratic lawmakers are wearing pink buttons saying “UTERUS.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida responded by launching a website, http://www.IncorporateMyUterus.com, where women can get a declaration of incorporation.

ACLU of Florida executive director Howard Simon said telling lawmakers their body is a business is the best way for women to get Republicans to leave it alone.

To the tune of Just the Two of Us, written by Grover Washington, as performed by Bill Withers:

The U-Word

From The Palm Beach Post:

Have you heard about the uterus rebellion?

It started this past week in the Florida House of Representatives when Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, suggested during a floor debate that his wife ought to incorporate her uterus.

If women’s wombs were businesses, Republicans would have no interest in regulating them, Randolph was saying.

…snip…

The Republican House leadership responded by admonishing Randolph for his language and banning the word “uterus” from being spoken from the floor.

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Bunions Might Not Be Covered

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Congress has yet to settle its first budget fight of the year but is already about to move on to an even more consequential fiscal clash.

Even as the two parties struggled over the weekend to reach a deal on federal spending for the next six months and avert a government shutdown at the end of the week, House Republicans were completing a budget proposal for next year and beyond. It is likely to spur an ideological showdown over the size of government and the role of entitlement programs like Medicaid and Medicare.

The plan, which is scheduled to be unveiled Tuesday, will be the most ambitious Republican effort since the November elections to put a conservative stamp on economic and domestic policy.

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The Pain in Maine’s Due Plainly to His Reign

Yesterday, the Raisin reported on Governor Paul LePage of Maine ordering the Department of Labor to remove a mural that celebrates the history of labor in the state. There’s going to be an awful lot of blank wall space, so I thought we’d try to help and suggest a replacement. I did a little digging, and i found out about something called the Maine Heritage Policy Center. From WLBZ (Bangor):

Tarren Bragdon has risen to a position of influence as CEO of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, and was the leader of Gov. Paul LePage’s transition team. He goes In the Arena with Pat Callaghan to talk about the efforts to shrink the state budget and reform government.

The Maine Heritage Policy Center says Gov. LePage’s proposed budget doesn’t make enough cuts. The center believes Maine should cut 4,000 state jobs. Bragdon talks about that, as well as collective bargaining rights for state employees, and Gov. LePage’s decision to create private advisory groups to counsel him on business matters– which will not be subject to Maine’s open meeting laws.

Why is that important?  Well, this is from Dirigo Blue:

Trevor Bragdon has stepped down as the State Director of AFP Maine, and will be replaced by long-time Republican legislator Carol Weston.

AFP Maine is a chapter of Americans for Prosperity, an AstroTurf front group founded by David Koch, a major funder of libertarian groups across the country. Trevor Bragdon is the brother of Tarren Bragdon, the Executive Director of the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center (MHPC), and one of the co-chairs of Gov. Paul LePage’s transition team. MHPC has ties to the Heritage Foundation in D.C., which also receives money from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.

Anyone else think it’s quite a coincidence that the Koch brothers’ names keep popping up when anyone is discussing the new Republican governors who are trying to pull the rug out from anything that’s good for the middle class and the poor?  With that in mind, I’ve come up with a picture that I think will look just great on the walls of the Maine Department of Fellating Corporate Bigwigs Labor.
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